If Trump can pull this off, it will be historic

House conservatives are ready to oppose the Senate GOP framework for Trump's tax cut package. Senator James Lankford, Republican from Oklahoma, joins me now. Mr. Senator, it seems like the Republican Party can't rein in the conservatives in the House, and that is threatening tax cuts. Yeah, the challenge that we have is just a misunderstanding between the House and the Senate and how the rules actually work on establishing the budget process. This is a process document. This is not the final document. This is not the actual tax base. This is not the actual reduction. This is the process to get it started. That's been the challenging, if I can compare it. This is like where to lean the ladder against the wall to get to the leaky roof. The problem is the leaky roof, not where to lean the ladder. So we're ready to get past this phase. The House has passed something. The Senate's passed something. It's now going back to the House on it. Let's just pass this process piece so we can actually get to actually guarding our tax status, dealing with all the issues we've got to deal with, border and security, all those things that have got to be done with. That's the next step, and we've got to get there. Got it. A new report says Trump told several Republican senators that he is open to higher taxes on the 1%. Senator, are you in favor of that? Democrats always accuse Trump of giving tax breaks for the wealthy. Yeah, I think what President Trump and what I've heard him say is, hey, if I've got to pay more taxes so that people that don't get a tax on tips and don't get some of these other things on the other brackets, if they get that break and I have to pay a little more, I'm willing to be able to do that. As you know, there's a lot of different things on the table right now. The House wants to do a huge increase in the SALT tax deduction, the state and local tax deduction. If they end up doing that, that actually benefits that top bracket the most on it. So even if that bracket went up and they changed the SALT tax, it could all be a wash on it. So there's a lot of elements in this we've got to be able to work out. So China's clearly playing hardball. Listen to what Trump's Treasury Secretary, Scott Besant, had to say about that. Roll it. A Spanish official said today that maybe Europe should look to China instead of the U.S. And I can tell you that is a losing proposition for the Europeans. We put up the tariff wall. China's business model is predicated on this incredibly imbalanced economy and exporting low-cost goods and subsidized goods to the rest of the world. And guess where they are going to land? On the European shores. The U.S. is trying to rebalance toward more manufacturing. China needs to rebalance toward more consumption. More on the Europeans for a moment, Senator. The E.U. says it will impose its first countermeasures against U.S. tariffs. That will be April 15th. But those tariffs could be suspended if there's a deal. It seems like there's deal-making all over the place, but not with China. China's isolated. What say you? Yeah, deal-making all over the place is the key at this point. Let's resolve issues we've got with Argentina, with Europe, with Central America, with lots of Asia. Vietnam has already come to the table and said, hey, they want to be able to clear all their barriers. That's positive. This could be a very rapid turnaround in access to those markets, which the United States has tried to get literally for decades. If Trump is able to land this, multiple balls in the air at one time, just start landing them one at a time, that will be historic in a million ways. But China will be the big issue because they are very focused on trying to dig in. You look at Vietnam versus China. Vietnam immediately said, we're going to drop tariffs. We're going to open up our market. China immediately said, we're going to close our market even more. So the two big economic superpowers have got to be able to work this out. And China's got to be reasonable in this because they have been the problem and the entire globe knows it. Senator, you're from Oklahoma. That is one of the most Republican states in the nation. When you go back to Oklahoma, what are your constituents telling you about tariffs and Trump's performance so far? Well, I'm 100 percent looking to get home for Easter and get a chance to be able to be around my family, my community a whole lot more. I'd say what I'm getting on the phone and on emails from people right now. People are either very patient saying, hey, I understand. I see what Trump is trying to do. He's trying to negotiate these deals. He is a dealmaker. He is working to be able to make deals as fast as possible. They see that there's also a lot of companies that do manufacturing, that they may have a few parts that are coming from China or from Vietnam. And they're concerned right now because they don't know how long the negotiations will take. And they're looking at their inventory that they have currently or they already have contracts in place to be able to sell their product. And they're worried about it. They don't want to have to go spend all their time renegotiating all their contracts. There is pressure to wrap this thing up quickly, right? Right. Faster, the better on it. Have the negotiations, get it resolved, start resolving in one country at a time and get it done. Senator Lankford, always a pleasure. Thank you very much for joining us. I appreciate it. You bet. Good to see you again. Yes, sir.